VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON TITTJS II. 11-14, 43
prayers which they do in their disputes, and plead the merit of their works, and say, Lord, give me not eternal life, and grace, and favour, till I deserve it at thy hand. Let them thus dispute with God or with their own consciences in the agonies of death, and under horrors of the Lord's wrath. Surely those that cry up the merits of works are men of little spiritual experience, and seldom look into their own consciences, Dare they thus plead with God H — Lord, never look upon me in mercy if I do not deserve it. You shall see the best plea that the eminentest of God's children could make is mere grace. The church speaks thus, Hosea xiv. 2, ' Eeceive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips.' It is the form that is prescribed to returning Israel. If you would establish hope with God, this must be your only plea and claim : Grace, Lord ! mercy Lord ! And David saith, Ps. xiii. 5, * I have trusted in thy mercy. There is the ground of my confidence. And Chrysostom hath a sweet gloss upon that place, ol jxev dyyol, et tol Koi e')(Oiev, Xeyercocrav ; ejco 8e kv oiha, ev \e\co, dtc. — If others have any- thing to allege, let them plead it. Ah, Lord ! 1 have but one thing to say and plead, and upon which to cast all my hopes, and that is mercy and grace : ' Lord, I have trusted in thy mercy.' Thus Ambrose, when he was to die, saith, Etsi non sic vixi ut pudeat inter vos vivere, &g. — Though I have not so lived as that I should be ashamed to live, I am not afraid to die. Why ? not that I have lived well, but quia honum habeo Dominum, because I have a gracious Lord, and have made grace my confidence. So we read in the Life of Bernard, seeming to be cited before the tribunal of God, when Satan had spoken in his conscience, "What ! thou look for any favour at God's hand ? thou art not worthy. He replies, I confess I am not worthy, nor can I by my own deserts obtain the kingdom of heaven ; but I have a double right, Hcereditate •patris, et merito passionis — by the grace of my father, and by the merit of Christ's passion ; hereby I can take hold of God with both hands, by grace and merit ; not my own, but Christ's. Thus God's best ser- vants, their hopes have been established this way, by casting themselves upon mercy and grace.
(2.) That we may retain the favour of God with certainty : Eom. iv. 16, ' Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed.' We should never else be secured against doubts and fears. Believers, that oflfend daily, would be left to a sad uncertainty ; but now we can the better expect glory when the foundation of it is laid in grace. I remember the great patron of the merit of works, Bellarmine, concludeth out of Bernard, pi'opter incertihidinem p7'opr ice justi ties, et pey^icidum inanis glorice, tutissimumi est fiduclam totam in sold Dei misericordia et henignitate reponere — Because of the uncertainty of our own righteousness, and the danger of vain-glory, I confess it is the safest course to put our trust in the sole mercy and grace of God.
Use 1. To persuade us, if grace be the cause of all the good we enjoy, not to wrong grace. Why ? For this is to close and stop up the fountain ; yea, to make grace our enemy ; and if grace be our enemy, who shall plead for us ? Angry justice must needs take up the quarrel of abused grace, and then there is no help ; yea, grace itself would com- plain of the wrong received to God, and will solicit our judgment and
44 ' SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. [SeR. L
vengeance ; the advocate will become an accuser. But liow do we wrong grace ? I answer — five ways —
1. By neglecting the offers of grace. Such make God speak in vain, and to spend his best arguments to no purpose: 2 Cor. vi. 1, 'We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.' By the grace of God is there meant the offers of grace in the gospel. Now, vre receive it in vain when all the wooings and pleadings of grace do not move us to bethink ourselves and look after our salvation. It is a great afi'ront you put upon God to despise him when he speaks in the still voice. Look, as when David had sent a courteous message to Nabal, and he returns a churlish answer, it put him in a fury : 1 Sam. xxv. 34, ' Surely there had not been left by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.' So how angry will the Lord be against those that despise his grace, and all the re- newed offers and messages of love, and prefer the profits and pleasures of the world before him ! It may be you do not return a rough and churlish answer, and are not scorners and opposers of the word, but you slight God's sweetest message, when he comes in the sweetest and mildest way. The complaint in the gospel was, Mat. xi. 17, ' We have piped unto you, and you have not danced.' It is not, We have thun- dered unto you, and you were not startled ; but. We have piped, and ye have not danced. Not to take notice of these sweet allurements and blandishments of grace, that is very sad : Heb. ii. 3, * How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ? ' The greatness of the benefit aggravates the sin. It is great salvation that is offered ; there is an offer of pardon and eternal life, but it worketh not if you neglect it. There is a sort of men that do not openly deny, reject, or persecute the gospel, but they receive it carelessly, and are no more moved with it than with a story of golden juountains, or rubies or diamonds fallen from heaven in a night-dream. You make God spend his best argu- ments in vain if you neglect this grace. Scourge conscience till it ache. What will you do ? ' How will you escape, if you neglect so great sal- vation ? ' God sets himself a- work to gain the heart, and grace hath laid open all its treasures, as a man in a shop to draw in custom ; now it is grieved and wronged when it doth not meet with a chapman. This is the charge that is laid upon those. Mat. xxii. 6 ; when they %vere invited, ' They made light of it ; ' they did not take it into their care and thoughts, did not seriously think with themselves, Oh, that God should invite us to the marriage of his Son ! They do not abso- lutely deny, but make excuse ; they do not say, non 2:>lacet, but non vacant — they are not at leisure ; and this made the king angry. When all things are ready, and God sets forth the treasures and riches of his grace, and men will not bethink themselves, their hearts are not ready. How will this make God angry ? Such kind of neglecters are said to 'judge themselves unworthy of eternal life,' Acts xiii. 46. You will say, Is there any fault in that ? Who is worthy ? Should we not judge ourselves to be vile forlorn creatures, unworthy of a look from God, much more of eternal life ? I answer — It is not spoken of self- humbling, or of a holy self-condemning, but of those that turn their back upon grace. Grace comes to save them, and God makes them an offer as though they were worthy ; and they judge themselves un-